WITH A PREFACE BY JOHANNES WISLICENUS LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1898 All rights reserved C481 H69e 1898 PREFACE ΤΟ THE FIRST EDITION THE first edition of this little book appeared in 1877, in the form of Dr. F. Herrmann's free rendering of my brochure, 'La Chimie dans l'Espace,' and Wislicenus, as long ago as that, helped the work by a warm recommendation. As the original views still survive in Stereochemistry, this second edition presents once more a freely revised version of that brochure; but a section on nitrogen derivatives has been added. Besides this, in the part devoted to carbon, the greatly increased number of facts has been taken into account, and finally the amount of the rotation of active bodies has received special attention. Accordingly the book may serve as a reference book for stereochemistry and optical activity. At the publishers' wish, I have studied brevity as far as compatible with thorough treatment. AMSTERDAM February 1894. J. H. VAN 'T HOFF. |